


Intentional

by NumptyPylon



Category: The Dragon Prince (Cartoon)
Genre: Attempt at Humor, Awkward Flirting, Bad Flirting, Canon Compliant, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-05
Updated: 2020-03-05
Packaged: 2021-03-01 04:35:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,295
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23029438
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NumptyPylon/pseuds/NumptyPylon
Summary: Flirting comes more naturally to some than others. Particularly the intentional kind of flirting.Callum may not be a natural, his tenuous brain-to-mouth connection and general awkwardness working against him. But he's a quick learner when he cares about the subject.
Relationships: Callum/Rayla (The Dragon Prince)
Comments: 47
Kudos: 170





	Intentional

**Author's Note:**

> So, this came about as a deleted scene from my main story, then I added some more stuff, and now it’s this thing. A pretty silly thing, but here it is, in case someone might enjoy it.
> 
> If you are following my main story, Downtime in Wartime, this does contain snippets from future chapters 25, 27 and 29, but it’s not really the kind of story where spoilers matter a lot, since it follows canon. But if you don’t want spoilers of any kind, the first and last snippets of this one-shot are safe, and the middle three are variations of scenes from future chapters. Or you could wait to read this until mid-april, when I get around to posting chapter 29.

“It’s okay. It was a… bumpy ride.”

Callum’s cheeks still burned, his head still overwhelmed with the recent memory of Rayla pressed against him, and several minutes passed before it hit him. Had that been _flirting_? She had _winked_ at him.

Or, much, _much_ more likely, that had just been Rayla being her regular jokey self, and his hopelessly infatuated brain reading more into it. Rayla was naturally playful and infinitely kind. She had seen he was uncomfortable, and tried to lighten the tension for him. That was exactly a thing she would do. Had done, in fact.

Still, even if he knew the answer was probably no, he could not shake the question if that had been flirting. In which case he had a follow-up question. Was it _intentional?_

***

“What’s mustard?” Rayla asked, curious.

Callum showed her his right hand, where some of it had gotten on his fingers. “Oh, it’s this yellow sauce, you see? Ez doesn’t like it, but it’s my favo-”

Rayla waited for Ez to turn around, then her tongue quickly flicked out to lick the mustard from the tip of his index finger.

“Oh, it _is_ good,” she said, smiling a smile of purest, fakest innocence. “ _Zesty._ ” He was pretty sure his mouth was hanging open. She licked her lips. _Intentionally_? From the brief flash of pure terror in Rayla’s eyes, that had definitely been intentional, and she had also definitely overextended herself, in regards to her actual confidence in this area. But she was the bravest person he knew, and didn’t relent. Instead she fixed him with a defiant smile, chin held high and eyes bold and bright.

His body and face filled with heat, and oh how he wanted to crush his mouth and body against hers, kiss that infuriating, teasing, _beautiful_ curve of her lips-

Aaand, Ez was looking at them again.

***

“Want to get out of here?” Callum asked gently, wiping her tearstained cheeks with his thumbs. “I think I know how to get you warm.”

Rayla laughed, a few more tears spilling over his hands as she did. “That was uncharacteristically smooth, Callum.” She said.

“Oh! Um. I meant the moon. Waxing gibbous? Clear night? It would be warm, right? We could go up to the pinnacle.” He was a bit annoyed with himself. “Sorry Rayla. One of these days I’ll manage to _intentionally_ flirt with you.” Preferably when she was not crying, he mentally added, remembering the less than ideal series of events at the Oasis.

“I have no doubt.” Rayla said genuinely. “You’re a fast learner when given room to grow.” She ran her fingers across his brow, then stood up on tiptoes to kiss where she had touched. “But even if you don’t, it’s like you told me. It’s okay that there are things you can’t do.”

***

_You do understand my concern here, Callum? You are very young. Very… innocent. Very susceptible to the attentions of attractive assassins in tight pants._ Amaya signed, not judging exactly, but definitely slightly… apprehensive.

Callum hid his face in his hands, feeling his burning cheeks against his fingertips. Well, he _was_ pretty susceptible to that, but really just the one assassin, who wasn’t actually an assassin anymore, so much-

“Callum?” Rayla asked. “Please elaborate.”

“Well, um. Aunt Amaya is worried that… well. That you… seduced me somehow.”

Rayla’s head snapped around to Amaya, blushing furiously, but her defiance undeterred. “That’s ridiculous! Callum seduced me, not the other way around.”

“I did? How?” Callum asked. This was certainly news to him. He really felt he should have known that.

“Well, I’m sure you didn’t do it on purpose. But I had you at sword point and you told me you liked my ears!”

_You did what?!_

“I did _that_. Yeah, I did do that.” He admitted to Amaya.

Rayla had turned to Amaya now, still looking indignant. “Then, three weeks later, he held my hands, looked me deep in the eyes, took my hood down and told me I was beautiful. And then he was surprised that I kissed him.” Rayla said, rolling her eyes, but the look she gave him was full of tenderness. The look Amaya gave him was the visual counterpart to an indulgent sigh.

_Oh Callum. Kid. No._

“I didn’t mean to do any of that!”

“I know. That’s probably why it was so effective.” Rayla said, grinning at him.

Despite this entire mortifying situation, he felt just a bit proud. So, he was surprised to note, did Amaya. 

Amaya smiled widely at him. _You know,_ _your mother seduced an assassin once. Although in her case it was extremely intentional. She would be proud._

***

Callum looked at her, resting against him. He could practice, he supposed. It wasn’t like she was judging him when she was awake, she had built up quite a tolerance to the verbal consequences of his tenuous brain-mouth connection. But her conscious presence alone was extremely distracting. Not conducive to the formation of coherent sentences, let alone eloquent ones. She sighed in her sleep, nuzzling her cheek into his shoulder, making him acknowledge that she was, in fact, pretty distracting even when not conscious.

“Rayla,” he said, testing her name on his tongue, searching for some combination of words worthy of her. “I never told you, that letter my dad wrote to me. He told me to build a narrative of love. You make me believe that’s possible.” He smiled, laying his head against the top of hers, warmth filling him from the inside out. But as his intentions went, that was a complete failure. Way too sincere and heavy. Flirting was supposed to be lighthearted. Humorous. _Zesty._

“Did the moon come out from the clouds, or was that just you smiling at me?” Barf.

“You’re my favorite thing to draw, Rayla. You could say I’m drawn to you.” Barf Part 2: The Barfening.

He looked up. The night sky was kind of romantic, right? Maybe something about astronomy? The word had ‘ass’ in it, and he did like that part of her physique very much. His face heated. If he got this embarrassed just thinking about it, his chances of pulling off anything even _remotely_ lewd probably weren’t high.

“Did you learn to strike the heart so unfailingly in assassin school?” Did it count as humor if it was only funny by virtue of being horrible?

“My lips are lonely, and they’d really like to meet yours…” Entirely too plain and boring. In fact, it sounded like one of Soren’s lines, he liked them generic, so he could reuse them.

“Good thing I just learned Ventus Spiralis, because you take my breath away-” Truly cringeworthy. But it would definitely make her laugh, so he’d remember that one anyway.

He slid his fingers across the soft skin of her cheek, luminous in the moonlight. “You shine so bright, even in strife and darkne-”

He choked on his words, when he realized her eyes were open and looking at him. Then he gathered his courage. “I was j-just waiting for to join me. It’s just empty, cold sky up here without you.” Not great, and just slightly derivative of an earlier, unintentional attempt, but he had to start somewhere, right?

A bright smile spread on her lips.

He offered no resistance when Rayla leaned over him, claiming his lips with enthusiasm. Her hands and lips, warmed by moonlight, left heat in their wake across his skin, chasing away the chill of the night air.

She drew back briefly to look at him, pride in her eyes. “Callum. You did it. _Intentionally_.” Her lips found his again, but he was grinning so widely she had to abandon that particular point of attack. Ever the adaptive former assassin, she found others.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed :)


End file.
